Metro Mayor’s fight auto industries case with PM
Richard Parker and Steve Rotheram joined forces to urge swift Government action in support of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) following the announcement of new US tariffs on the automotive industry.
Last Friday (April 11), Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met with Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram to discuss how international events – particularly new US tariffs on the automotive sector – are affecting key British industries.
Speaking at a Combined Authority meeting in St Helens, Rotheram revealed that he and West Midlands Metro Mayor Richard Parker, had jointly written to the Prime Minister on behalf of JLR immediately following the US announcement. Their intervention led to swift engagement from the Government.
He said: “Places like Jaguar Land Rover would be enormously impacted. Last Thursday myself and Richard Parker, Metro Mayor of the West Midlands, immediately wrote to the Prime Minister on behalf of JLR.
“Within days the Prime Minister did act and addressed some of those things and JLR thanked the Prime Minister for that swift action.
“But it’s not all doom and gloom – economic growth is above where we believed it would be – and where it was forecast to be. We want to be at the forefront of economic growth across the whole of the country and we can help national government deliver on its missions.”
The Mayor said Friday’s call was “an opportunity for us to explain directly to the Prime Minister about some of the implications on the economy of the Liverpool City Region”.
He added: “The Prime Minister talked about life sciences. Life sciences is not just an important cluster for us, we are actually the largest bio-manufacturing life sciences cluster in Europe. It’s a significant sector for the UK, but it’s a particularly large sector for us in the city region.
“The Port of Liverpool handles 45% of all UK trade with the US and the US is our single biggest source of overseas investment. The USA is our largest export market, and that £1.8bn each year could be jeopardised.”
The Prime Minister convened the meeting with England’s mayors to update them on the Government’s pragmatic approach to the evolving international context.
He stressed the importance of bringing leaders together across the whole of the country to continue working in the national interest.
The Prime Minister then pointed to the Government’s support for the British car industry and life sciences sectors and reiterated the Government was maintaining an approach of calm and sensible investment decisions, while keeping all options on the table.
